| | Bernard:
AA is a drastic step, but a clearer understanding of Objectivist principles is in order:
1. Why do you drink a lot? Are you doing it for relaxation and pleasure? (I'm not going to be one of these insipid prudes who tells you that you shouldn't drink at all, if such is your choice. However, excessive alcohol consumption can indeed cloud the capacity for rational judgement. (But then again, so can excesses of many other things, so that is not a unilateral indictment against alcohol-consumption, by any means.)
I myself went through a bit of a phase where I drank WAY too much, sometimes. Pretty much came down th the fact that my Dad had been a complete waste of effort, and had (like so many others) used his drinking as an excuse for any and all stupid things he ever did.
Thus, my family tended to be really idiotic: they took the tack that if I even had ONE beer, I was inevitably on the same road to being every bit as fucked up as my dad -- which is utter bullshit.
My response was basically to go 180 on 'em, and drink a lot (when I did go drinking), because "I'm not my dad, goddamnit!"
Now, I occasionally have a few drinks even now, but I have become much more "moderate" with it -- mainly because I am much more comfortable with myself, and my "right to be me". Objectivism has helped me to figure myself out much more, and take responsibility for my own life and conduct, to a degree that most Non-Objectivists probably couldn't do.
As such, I have studied up extensively on the physiological effects of alcohol (and many other health issues as well), and strive for a "fully-integrated" lifestyle (IE, I do not 'abstain' from things out of hand, but nor do I use them out of legitimate context.)
As for mental illness, that's a complex question. Sam Erica has a point that many psychiatrists tend to take the wrong tack, in their treatment methodology, but that by no means indicates that there are NO philosophical implications to some mental problems.
(As an example, I would mention "Jerusalem syndrome" -- the pheonomenon where Christianity causes some believers to snap, and believe themselves to be Jesus Christ.)
Objectivism CAN help a person such as our friend No. 6 understand that the correct pharmaceutical therapy can help them.
I dunno, on a multi-causal topic such as "mental illness" we do definitely need to differentiate between organic and "mental" problems (even though there will undoubtedly be a significant amount of overlap.)
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